Prior to the conception and development of the present invention, hunters harvesting game animals have had various methods of putting their identification tag on the dead game animal, but all having some drawbacks. With deer especially, the animal commonly must be dragged considerable distance through the woods before reaching and loading it onto a vehicle. The rocks, branches, and bushes encountered on the way tend to rip off many types of tags. In addition, rain or snow can get to the paper portion of the tag and make it unreadable.
There are numerous prior art examples of tags and tag holders for identifying animals, dead or alive. Patent examples can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,548,104, 3,468,050, 5,655,320, and 6,799,389. These all form a loop of some sort with a dangling tag portion, thereby exposing the identification portion to potential damage by snagging on or rubbing against tree branches, bushes, and rocks.
Arnt in U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,564 discloses a game kill tag holder that sandwiches the tag between two clear plastic sheets with multiple edge notches, but this combination is then tied to some body part of the dead animal with a cord through an aperture in one end of the tag. While Arnt's holder may protect the inserted hunter's tag from the weather, the dangling tag is still in jeopardy of getting snagged and ripped off as the animal is dragged.
Blackmer in U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,460 discloses a game tagging system that provides a sticky zone or pocket for holding a hunting license in one corner of a plastic strip. Various means of attaching this holder to a part of the dead animal are disclosed, but none adequately protect the game license very well from exposure to the elements, and the tag portion of the license holder is susceptible to being ripped from the attachment means for the holder. Adhesive backed transparent plastic pocket holders can be found among office supplies, but they all have the adhesive on the side opposite the pocket opening. As with the Blackmer device, this leaves the pocket opening exposed to moisture infiltration and for possible snagging on the surroundings.